DUBLIN --- At a small but intense conference organized by Dublin City University last week, about 120 terrorism and media experts gathered to consider how terrorists use the Internet and other new media, and to ponder ways to counter their efforts.

...counterterrorism should be broadened to take advantage of the assets of public diplomacy. By reaching those at the base of the pyramid before they are radicalized to the point of violence, public diplomacy efforts could reduce the appeal of terrorists' propaganda. This will require a rethinking of public diplomacy strategy, with less emphasis on "love us" public relations efforts and more on projects that directly shape individuals' thinking and affect their lives.

Current U.S. public diplomacy centers on selling America to the Muslim world, but we should also work to undermine some of the myths built up around our enemies by highlighting their incompetence, their moral failings, and their embarrassing antics. Beyond changing how the Muslim world perceives terrorists, we can help ourselves make smarter counterterrorism choices by being more realistic about the profile and aptitude of would-be attackers.

The future of Morocco's counterterrorism strategy may lie in Casablanca, but its past is even more important. Over the past two decades, under the direction of its late king Hassan II and his son, Mohammed VI, the former French and Spanish colony has erected a formidable "soft power" strategy by which to eradicate the intolerant Islamic ideals that have taken root in much of the rest of the region.

India and Turkmenistan today agreed to cooperate with each other in dealing with the scourge of global terrorism and called for the early conclusion of the Compehensive Convention on International Framework within the United Nations framework.

Worldcasting was reminded this week of why the word "labeling" should be used with the greatest of care in the practice of public diplomacy.

One example was the trip to Turkey by Pope Benedict XVI, during which he sought to calm Muslim rage over his earlier quotation from a medieval text that labeled Islam a violent religion. It was also the week that NBC News decided to label the violence in Iraq as a "civil war," not simply a "war."